Human Rights Law Commons^™

Challenging Some Baseline Assumptions About The Evolution Of International Commissions Of Inquiry, Michael A. Becker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Conventional accounts of the historical development of international commissions of inquiry reflect a progress narrative consisting of three propositions: (1) that recourse to inquiry bodies has increased dramatically in the post-Cold War era, (2) that inquiry bodies have evolved from mechanisms for "pure" fact- finding into quasi-judicial bodies that engage with international law, and (3) that the function of inquiry bodies has shifted from diplomatic dispute settlement to norm enforcement and accountability. Part I explains how this narrative simplifies and distorts the rich history of inquiry bodies in international affairs. Part II shows how the idea of a post-Cold War …

Jus Gentium, Natural Law, And Grotius’ Treatise: The Impact Of International Law’S Classical Heritage On Today’S Enforcement Dilemma, Faith Chudkowski

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

No abstract provided.

Transnational Migrant Deterrence, Anita Sinha

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The governance of global migration increasingly relies on what critical migration scholarship refers to as externalized control. Externalization encompasses limiting human mobility through the imposition of migration control measures by transit states, as well as by states that are geographically proximate to destination states. Destination states are at a minimum complicit in the creation and operation of these externalized migration control systems. To capture this phenomenon, this Article offers a reconceptualization of externalization as transnational migration deterrence. The objective ofthis nomenclature is to provide a framework that highlights the role of destination states, to build a lexicon of accountability for …

Canadian Corporations Bound By The Phoenix: Setting The Path For The United States, Kelly Brickman

Global Business Law Review

This Note argues that the United States courts have jurisdiction to consider corporate liability for international law violations of human rights under the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Canada, in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya. The United States Supreme Court has escaped holding such liability exists, but Canada has outlined how countries, such as the United States, no longer can avoid holding corporations liable under customary international law. Corporate liability for human rights violations committed abroad is a cutting-edge issue. The United States Supreme Court has considered the issue before, but the Court used different analyses and was …

Splitting Canada’S Northern Strategy: Is It Polar Mania?, C. Mark Macneill

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

On July 15, 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s legislation splitting Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC) into two new departments and dissolving INAC came into effect. The same legislation also formally established the mandates of the two new departments, Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs (CIRNAC) and Indigenous Services Canada (ISC). The Government of Canada passed the legislation to develop deeper relations and higher levels of collaboration with Canada’s Indigenous people to build stronger and healthier northern communities. Dovetailing with the splitting of INC, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announce the Arctic Policy Framework (APF). The APF was co-developed with indigenous, territorial, …

Recognition And Enforcement Of Foreign Interim Measures (Scientific And Theoretical Aspect), Mansurov Artem

ProAcademy

It is known that in the past few years, the Uzbek offense has been actively reforming the economic procedural and arbitration procedural criminal prosecution in search of new effective economic and judicial remedies. In the applied aspect of civil and economic/economic procedural law, interest in the difficulties and suppression of local offenses. At the same time, from the study of the recognition and enforcement of foreign interim measures as a means of protection and its study in the countries of the Romano-Germanic distribution system in Uzbekistan, it has a large number of problems of a practical, one might say, and …

The Armenian Genocide, Customary International Law, And U.S. Recognition, Jordan Koopmans

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

This article asserts that President Biden's statement recognizing the Armenian Genocide of 1915 illustrates that genocide was prohibited by customary international law when the genocide started. It examines possible legal theories to explain U.S. recognition as well as historical evidence and statements made by other states to establish that there is a strong case for genocide already outlawed by customary international law in 1915. This provides a foundation for the article's assertion and subsequent legal analysis of the United States' statements of recognition under a customary international law theory, concluding that this is the most likely legal theory the U.S. …

Estados De Emergencia En El Sistenma Interamericano De Derechos Humanos: Los Principales Retos De La Pandemia De Covid-19, Maria Agustina Bonella

American University International Law Review

En las Américas, a medida que avanzaba la crisis sanitaria producida por la primera ola de la pandemia de COVID-19, los Estados han ido adoptando distintas medidas para ralentizar la propagación del virus y evitar el colapso de sus sistemas sanitarios, en miras a salvaguardar el derecho a la vida, a la integridad personal y a la salud de las personas que se encontraban sometidas a su jurisdicción. Estas medidas han incluido desde campañas de concientización sobre el lavado de manos, el distanciamiento social o el uso del barbijo, hasta medidas más extremas, como el cierre de escuelas y universidades; …

Reducing The Negative Effects Of Counterterrorism Frameworks And Other Restrictive Measures On Humanitarian Action And Enforcing The Obligations Of States In Relation To The Covid-19 Vaccine, Claudio Cerqueira Bastos Netto

American University International Law Review

Countering terrorism has been a priority agenda point for the international community, especially after the September 11th attacks. As the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) points out, “States have had to confront a threat emanating from individuals and non-State armed groups [(NSAGs)] that resort to acts of terrorism. In response, States and international organizations have developed increasingly robust counterterrorism measures.”

Sexual Violence As A Weapon Of War In Ethiopia's Tigray Region And The Developing Adjudication Of Violations Of The Protocol On The Rights Of Women In Africa, Valerie R. Cook

American University International Law Review

On November 4, 2020, a civil war broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia between joint Ethiopian and Eritrean military forces and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (“TPLF”). The war is in part an ethnic conflict between the newly centralized nationalist government under Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and the once politically dominant beneficiaries of a federalist system, the TPLF. Sexual violence as a method of war has become a hallmark of this conflict as reports of rape by Ethiopian and Eritrean soldiers against Tigrayan women have increased.

El Control Estatal De La (Des)Informacion En Internet En El Contexto De La Pandemia: Un Analisis De Las Tendencias Regionales Bajo Una Perspectiva De Libertad De Expresion, Paula Roko

American University International Law Review

El 3 de mayo de 2020, en el marco del Día Mundial de la Libertad de Prensa, el secretario general de la Organización de las Naciones Unidas (ONU) afirmó que la desinformación se ha convertido en la “segunda pandemia”. Unos meses antes, el Director General de la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) ya había señalado que “las noticias falsas se difunden más rápido y con más facilidad que el virus, y que son igual de peligrosas”. Estos fueron comentarios recurrentes durante el 2020, un año que será recordado por el estallido de una pandemia mundial sin precedentes. Teorías conspirativas …

Introduction Human Rights And States Of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis And New Challenges, Claudia Martin, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

American University International Law Review

We are delighted to present this year’s special issue of the American University International Law Review and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which includes two of the best essays in English and in Spanish recognized in the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award competition. It is satisfying to think that this competition allowed a number of participants an opportunity to expound their thoughts on so many important topics, regarding so many areas of the world. We hope these participants are able to use their articles as mechanisms for change.

Romanian Government Will Implement Measures To Prevent Further Violations Of Rightsof People With Mental Health Conditions Or Disabilities In Accord With The Decision Of The European Court Of Human Rights, Tesa Hargis

Human Rights Brief

On June 21 and 22, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Romania discussed reform measures based on various judgements delivered during the nine-year period between 2012 and 2021. At issue before the ECtHR’s Department for Execution of Judgments was insufficient legal protection, lack of medical and social care, deficiencies in the legal framework governing involuntary placement, inadequate management of psychiatric conditions of detainees, and overcrowding and poor conditions in Romanian mental health facilities.

Chocholáčv. Slovakia: Prisoners, Porn, & Morality In Human Rights, Amanda Lorenzo

Human Rights Brief

Chocholáč v. Slovakia asks whether Slovakia’s disciplinary actions against a prisoner in possession of concealed pornographic materials violated the European Convention of Human Rights (“the Convention”). Roman Chocholáč, a thirtythree-year-old currently serving a life sentence in Leopoldov prison was found possessing a “popular weekly magazine” with sexually-explicit pictures pasted inside. The State deemed the added material a threat to morality and prison staff confiscated it. On November 21, 2017, Chocholáč v. Slovakia was brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), presenting legal questions under Slovakia’s Criminal Code and Execution of Prison Sentences Act, as well as Articles 8 …

Overcoming The Westphalian Notion Of "Absolute Sovereignty": The Venezuelan Case With The Inter-American Convention Of Human Rights, Gabriel Ortiz

Human Rights Brief

In 2012, Former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez withdrew from the American Convention on Human Rights (ACHR or “the Convention”). He presented a letter issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs before the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). The denunciation became effective in 2013. Thereafter, no one could petition before the Inter-American Commission or the Inter-American Court (IACHR) to hold Venezuela accountable for human rights violations. Meanwhile, between 2014 and 2019, the government’s armed groups have killed more than 19,000 people.

Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

American University International Law Review

We are pleased to write this prologue for the special issue of the American University International Law Review featuring the winning papers from the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Derogations To Human Rights During A Global Pandemic: Unpacking Normative And Practical Challenges, Roman Girma Teshome

American University International Law Review

After the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the COVID-19 outbreak as a “global pandemic,” States responded by taking more restrictive and urgent measures. These measures ranged from restrictions on public events to partial or total lockdowns, which restrict a plethora of human rights. Additionally, an unprecedented number of States declared a state of emergency to justify these measures; as of this writing, roughly two-thirds of States declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).

International Child Law And The Settlement Of Ukraine-Russia And Other Conflicts, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

The Ukraine-Russia conflict has wreaked disproportionate harms upon children. Hundreds reportedly were killed or wounded within the opening months of the conflict, thousands lost loved ones, and millions left their homes, their schools, and their communities. Yet public discussions of how to settle the conflict contain very little at all about children. This article seeks to change that dynamic. It builds on a relatively recent trend, one that situates human rights within the structure of peace negotiations, to push for particularized treatment of children’s experiences, needs, rights, and capacities in eventual negotiations. The article draws upon twenty-first century projects that …

Retooling Sanctions: China’S Challenge To The Liberal International Order, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Tom Ginsburg has produced yet another classic of transnational law, political science, and international relations. Democracies and International Law yields important insights into the democratic nature of international law but cautions that authoritarian states can apply these very legal technologies for repressive or anti-democratic purposes. Building on Ginsburg’s theories of mimicry and repurposing, this contribution highlights the role of both techniques in the creation of China’s economic sanctions program. On the one hand, China has developed a basic set of tools to impose economic sanctions—a key instrument in the liberal international toolkit—on foreign entities and persons. In so doing, …

Disaggregating Slavery And The Slave Trade, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum

FIU Law Review

International law prohibits slavery and the slave trade as peremptory norms, customary international law prohibitions and crimes, humanitarian law prohibitions, and non-derogable human rights. Human rights bodies, however, focus on human trafficking, even when slavery and the slave trade—and not human trafficking—are enumerated within their mandates. International human rights law has conflated human trafficking with slavery and the slave trade. Consequently, human trafficking has subsumed the slave trade and, at times, slavery prohibitions, increasing perpetrator impunity for slavery and the slave trade abuses and denying full expressive justice to survivors. This Article disaggregates slavery from the slave trade and slavery …

Academy On Human Rights And Humanitarian Law Articles On Human Rights And States Of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis And New Challenges: Introduction, Claudia Martin, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

We are delighted to present this year's special issue of the American UniversityInternationalLaw Review and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which includes two of the best essays in English and in Spanish recognized in the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award competition. It is satisfying to think that this competition allowed a number of participants an opportunity to expound their thoughts on so many important topics, regarding so many areas of the world. We hope these participants are able to use their articles as mechanisms for change.

Data Transfers After Schrems Ii: The Eu-Us Disagreements Over Data Privacy And National Security, Monika Zalnieriute

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In the long-awaited Schrems II decision, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) took a radical, although not an unexpected, step in invalidating the Privacy Shield Agreement, which facilitated data transfers between the European Union and the United States. Schrems II illuminates long-lasting international disagreements between the EU and the United States over data protection, national security, and the fundamental differences between the public and private approaches to the protection of human rights in the data-driven economy and modern state. This Article approaches the decision via an interdisciplinary lens of international law and international relations and situates it …

Academy On Human Rights And Humanitarian Law Articles On Human Rights And States Of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis And New Challenges: Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

We are pleased to write this prologue for the special issue of the American UniversityInternationalLaw Review featuring the winning papers from the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Platform-Enabled Crimes: Pluralizing Accountability When Social Media Companies Enable Perpetrators To Commit Atrocities, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Online intermediaries are omnipresent. Each day across the globe, the corporations running these platforms execute policies and practices that serve their profit model, typically by sustaining user engagement. Sometimes, these seemingly banal business activities enable principal perpetrators to commit crimes. Online intermediaries, however, are almost never held to account for their complicity in the resulting harms. This Article introduces the concept of platformenabled crimes into the legal literature to highlight the ways in which the ordinary business activities of online intermediaries enable the commission of crime. It then focuses on a subset of platform-enabled crimes—those in which a social media …

The Right To Food Comes To America, Wendy Heipt

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The people of Maine recently exercised an opportunity no citizen of this country has ever had before: the ability to vote on whether to enshrine a right to food in their state constitution. This Essay provides an overview of Maine’s experience with food rights in order to explain how the state came to occupy this unique position.

Tasking The Leviathan: Right To Protest, Good Governance, And Implications For National Security And International Law, Olalekan Moyosore Lalude

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

The right to good governance is a right inalienable to the democratic process. Content analysis was used as the data source for this paper. This study would attempt to resolve the questions on the intricate connection between the right to protest and the right to good governance in Nigeria and what this means for national security and international law. In this essay, it was argued that the international law space is shrinking for holding the democratic process accountable in sovereign states. The significance of the essay is to suggest a new direction for the engagement of international law mechanisms on …

"Authoritarian International Law" In Action? Tribal Politics In The Human Rights Council, Yu-Jie Chen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The international human rights regime, a product of post- war liberalism, is increasingly falling under the shadow of authoritarian countries that try to influence the regime in favor of their illiberal agendas. This Article uses the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) as a prism to examine the changing dynamics among leading authoritarian and democratic actors as they contend to shape global human rights norms and institutions. This Article argues that China, the most resourceful authoritarian party-state, is engaging in what can be understood as tribal international politics, forming coalitions with authoritarian governments and developing countries that have different state …

Skorupskian Allyship: Human Rights Reconstructed Through Efficacious Enforcement And Social Relativism, Chase Opperman

Philosophy Honors Papers

This project aims to take the subject of Human Rights and attempt to wrestle with its clarity. The concept has been, since its more modern manifestation, as represented by the United Nations’ Uniform Declaration of Human Rights, heavily criticized for its being indeterminate, unclear, ambiguous, or somehow not fully understood. Despite the concept’s incredible moral potential, the extent to which this potential can be realized is determined by the concept’s intelligibility and defensibility—both of which are affected by the concept’s being understood to a sufficient point. Given Human Rights’ moral potential to challenge the forces of evil in the world, …

2021 Spring - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Spring 2021 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter highlights major institutional milestones and advocacy efforts during a period of global and political transition. It features Professor Richard H. Weisberg’s transition to emeritus status, successful litigation challenging sanctions against the International Criminal Court, student fellowship and clinic project achievements, virtual alumni engagement, and public programming on sanctions, religious freedom, mass incarceration, and farmers’ rights. The newsletter reflects CLIHHR’s continued commitment to human rights education, international justice, and accountability in a remote learning environment.

The Concept Of Torture And Other Forms Of Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment: Study On The Jurisprudence Of International Oversight Mechanisms On Human Rights, Mohammed Khalil Al Mousa

UAEU Law Journal

Established principles of customary international law of human rights include prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. International Human Rights conventions and regional legislations recognize this principle. But the vast majority of these texts have not been exposed to the concept of torture and therefore cannot distinguish it from other prohibited forms of ill-treatment, with the exception of the United Nations Convention against Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and regional conventions limited to defining torture, there is no other definition in the human rights conventions that addresses this concept.

It is noteworthy to add …